# Formula One returns the US!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [May 26, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771 "2010-05-26T00:34:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/21 "2010-05-28T04:44:42Z")

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Road America does have a right-side pit and is clockwise, but the facilities would have to be greatly revamped. CART has raced there in the recent past, but the IRL declined to follow suit.

I’ll believe this race exists when I see it.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/22 "2010-05-28T05:37:55Z")

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I didn’t even know they’d borrowed it.

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**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/23 "2010-05-28T05:50:49Z")

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Shocked is the word. How are they going to finance building this track? Eddie Gossage says when he build the Texas Motor Speedway a decade ago, it cost him $250 million. I assume the pricetag will be even more. And the fees to Bernie? Indianapolis spent about $50 million to add an infield section. And will it have staying power. The first couple of ones at Indianapolis drew well but attendance declined. Part of it was the shenanigans those furriners pulled: Schumacher pulling over to let Barrichello win and the Michelin disaster. But Indy found that sponsors after going there at first, didn’t want to return. Will Austin be different? Will the Texas taxpayers be footing the bill?

I assume the owners of tracks like Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen had more sense than to get involved with Bernie than these guys have.  
But if they prove me wrong, I’ll own up. But as others have said, I’ll believe it when I see it.

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**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/24 "2010-05-28T20:53:03Z")

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> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Also, F1 cars fuel on the right hand side, which means that side has to face the pit wall and the fueling rig. To run at Elkhart Lake or Mid-Ohio, they might have to do it in reverse.

F1 cars don’t refuel at all (during the race) in 2010 (and for the forseeable future), but back when they did they could accomodate refuelling from either side of the car just fine.

The bulk of the schedule was made up of clockwise tracks with the pits on the inside, leading to refuelling from the right. But [this photo](http://www.motorsport.com/photos/f1/2009/bra/f1-2009-bra-xp-0887.jpg) of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull being filled up at Interlagos, Brazil in 2009 illustrates that they could do it from the left, as well.

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**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/25 "2010-05-28T21:08:54Z")

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This weekend’s F1 race in Turkey is run clockwise too. Hopefully the Austin track gets a corner like Istanbul’s Turn 8.

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**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formula-one-returns-the-us/540771/26 "2010-05-29T05:41:46Z")

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> [@fiddlesticks](#):
>
> This weekend’s F1 race in Turkey is run clockwise too. Hopefully the Austin track gets a corner like Istanbul’s Turn 8.

10 hours later…I meant counterclockwise. 🙂

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